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Saturday, 20 May 2017

Diamond Preview Picks: May 2017

Travis Pelkie returns with his regular monthly selection for Cerebus fans of comics and books featured in the latest Diamond Previews
catalog. Travis is co-founder of the Atomic Junk Shop,
a site about comics and other fun pop culture. To see your comics
featured here or at the Atomic Junk Shop feel free to send an email to
Travis at: atomicjunkshoptravis [at] outlook [dot] com.

Joined by a team of The Tick, Gumby & Pokey, Bone, Flaming Carrot,
Felix the Cat, Milk & Cheese, Rat Bastard, Reid Fleming, Usagi
Yojimbo, Mr. Spook, Zippy the Pinhead, Toxie, Protoplasman and Too Much
Coffee Man, our hero Cerebus looks for his helmet, only to find it in
the hands of Public Enemy!

Travis says:

Oh. My. Goodness. I did not expect to ever see this series again. A
must have for Cerebus fans, as the little grey guy plays a key role in
the series, as well as any fan of indie comics from the '80s, '90s, and
'00s. For some reason, I didn't
get issue 2, so I have to find that, but the third issue was out about 5
or 6 years ago. Talk about a long wait!

The publisher says:
Shakespeare wrote, "The play's the thing." Or was that Nathan
Lane? Either way, the play matters, whether you be man or god... or
even Groo. In this, the first installment in the newest Groo
miniseries (which is continued from the last Groo miniseries), the
stupidest hero in the comic book shop finds himself in a new village... a village where you pray to the proper god or you pray for your life.
And even the other gods know that they are all players. It's from the
award-winning team of Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier, with lettering
by Stan Sakai, coloring by Tom Luth, and a running commentary by the
gods above.

Travis says:

One of the series in the running to match or surpass Cerebus in number
of issues, Groo is also a funny barbarian parody (and the characters met
on the cover of an Amazing Heroes Annual -- I think). More Groo is
always good.

Carl Seltz is a suburban insurance investigator, a loving husband, and a
devoted father. Nixon is a berserk, homicidal tax collector racking up
mind-boggling body counts in a diseased urban slaughterhouse. Unit Four
is the ultimate robot killing machine-and the last hope of the future's
enslaved mechanical servants. And they're all the same psychotic entity.

Travis says:

One of the early things Frank Miller did after leaving the Marvel and DC
treadmills. This is a newly recolored version and people suggest to me
that I should get it.

In the retrofuturistic metropolis of Radiant City, its mysterious
creator, Mister X, must protect the city and its residents from the
architecture of the city itself, which poses a danger to all those
within it! Collecting every Mister X comic published by Dark Horse
Comics, this trade includes Condemned, Excavations, and Razed, along
with never-before-seen behind-the-scenes material! All of Dark Horse's Mister X material collected in an affordable paperback!

Travis says:

Originally from Canada's own Vortex Comics, Mister X was revived in
recent years at Dark Horse, and this is a collection of the stuff they
have published of the character.

The TMNT are teleported to a world of talking animals-the world of Usagi
Yojimbo! When the samarai rabbit embarks on a quest to save Japan and
the deadly Jei blocks his path, a Turtle team-up may be the only chance
for survival!

Travis says:

Two other long running indie cartoon animals here, with Usagi Yojimbo
meeting up with the more recent versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles. Should be fun, and there's also a HC version with extras
offered.

Matt Wagner returns with the third and final volume of his epic fantasy
trilogy. This long-awaited conclusion follows the
adventures of the reluctant everyman hero Kevin Matchstick, who, after
encountering a shaggy and beguiling wizard, discovers he is the
reincarnation of the legendary Pendragon and able to wield the power of
the mystical weapon, Excalibur. The story picks up several years after
the fateful climax of The Hero Defined and finds Kevin beginning to once
again doubt the virtue of his actions and the course of his destiny. This introductory, half-sized issue #0 continues Mage's tradition of an
"Interlude" short-adventure, bridging the gap between this series and
the previous storyline.

Travis says:

Matt Wagner's roman a superhero clef is finally beginning its final
phase with The Hero Denied, and The Hero Discovered reprints (I believe)
the Comico series. Presumably the middle series (Defined) will be
published soon, and you can see the
Dave Sim and Gerhard stand-ins then.

What if Kal El had been found by the Warriors instead of the
Kents? The deadliest girl alive accidentally joins a super violent
street gang. Are the Bleeders the family Jesse never had, or is Jesse
the child they never wanted? What? Free snacks at the gang tryout party! Also, SCANDAL-one of the Bleeders is a spy!

Travis says:

I believe Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca were influenced at least a certain
degree by Dave Sim (some of the lettering in the SLG run had a Cerebus
feel to it, to me). This is the second new book of the character, whose
adventures are damn fine funnybooks.

The party starts here! TwoMorrows and the Jack Kirby Collector magazine celebrate Jack Kirby's 100th birthday in style with the release of KIRBY100,
a full-color visual holiday for the King of comics! It features an
all-star line-up of 100 comics pros who critique key images from Kirby's
50-year career, admiring his page layouts, dramatics, and storytelling
skills, and lovingly reminiscing about their favorite characters and
stories. Featured are Bruce Timm, Alex Ross, Walter Simonson, John
Byrne, Alan Davis, Joe Sinnott, Steve Rude, Adam Hughes, Wendy Pini,
John Romita Sr., Dave Gibbons, P. Craig Russell, and dozens more of the
top names in comics. Their essays serve to honor Jack's place in comics
history, and prove (as if there's any doubt) that Kirby is King!

Bernie Wrightson, comic book artist and illustrator extraordinaire has
worked creating comic books, illustration, and conceptual design for
film. Wrightson's extensive design work for the Gang of Seven Animation
Studio, while known, has never been documented until now with the
creation of this new in-depth monograph that utilizes the archives of
the studio. Marvel at concept drawings, model sheets, and hundreds of
designs for projects including Biker Mice From Mars, The Juice, and Freak Show.
All of the artwork in this book has been scanned directly from the
original artwork so fans can savior Wrighton's genius up close and
personal. Also included in this monograph is an introductory essay, an
in-depth interview, and photographs taken during his tenure as an
associate partner of the studio.

Travis says:
A Bernie Wrightson art book! Should be pretty to look at!

Some people are saying, I don't know, you tell me, but a lot of people
are saying this is the greatest book of the year. This guy, Shannon
Wheeler, he draws these cartoons for the New Yorker, MAD, the Onion-he's
very, very, good, okay? Now he's illustrated the most incredible
tweets. Wow! You won't believe what he does with these tweets. I mean,
these tweets changed the world, folks. It's true! It's very true.
EVERYONE is going to want this book - even the haters and losers (Sad!).

Travis says:

Too Much Coffee Man's Shannon Wheeler goes for low hanging fruit with this book of illustrated tweets of the US president.

Apart from my ongoing "Reread All the Comics I Own" project, now in its (I think) 3rd year - I'm currently towards the end of Glamourpuss, as it happens - not much. I did recently read Jules Feiffer's "Kill Your Mother," a loving homage to 40s film noir. Still unread on my bookshelf, after all these years: Joe Sacco's "Safe Area Gorajde" and Pekar and Brabner's "Our Cancer Year." Oh, and I recently bought some 70s Charlton comics with Steve Ditko stories in them.

On the indie comic front I'm reading- - Michel Fiffe's Copra and signed up to his new one through Patreon- Chuck Forsman's Slasher is great and I've picked up the Revenger collections- Gillen and McKelvie's The Wicked & the Divine- Gillen's Uber- Rucka and Lark's Lazarus- Remender and Craig's Deadly Class- Layton and Keith's Eleanor & the Egret- the Fantagraphics All Time comics- the Hernandez brothers new Love & Rockets- some online/ digital comics stuff such as Oh Joy Sex Toy, Lees and Cormack's Sink, Ganzeer's the Solar Grid

I almost never read floppies any more, though I did pick up the first issue of the American Gods adaptation. Currently, I am reading a Tintin book (Land of BLack Gold), The Essential Killraven (because I like P. Craig Russell art--he worked on American Gods too), and Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles. Recently, I read volume two of Kirkman's collected Outcasts, and I do read The Walking Dead in its collected form, but I am two or three hardcover volumes behind at this point. Also recently read Gilbert Shelton's Best of Wonder Wart-Hog and volume one of the collected The First Kingdom, by Jack Katz.

I just finished "Usagi Yojimbo: Two Hundred Jizo," volume 29 (!) in the Usagi series. I really enjoyed it; one story, which went into detail about the process for creating soy sauce in medieval Japan, was especially good.

Before that, I read "Gast" by Carol Swain, which was amazing. And I read a superhero comic - the recent 12-issue "The Vision" series - which was excellent. And I'm in the middle of a French graphic novel series called "Blast."

Update: I bought a trade paperback of Eddie Campbell strips a couple months ago (in the bargain bin, I'm afraid), just out of curiosity, that I've just gotten around to reading. Man, I know I'm late to the party, but his stuff is a prime example of why I love comics. I wish I'd discovered him earlier, but now I have a LOT of catching up to do!!!